The purpose of this project is to improve educational experiences for students enrolled in physical science, integrated science, and calculus-based introductory physics. The first objective of this project is to equip an available room so that students in the physical science laboratory course and students enrolled in the integrated science sequence can benefit from a modified version of the research-based lab activities (for example, Tools for Scientific Thinking) that have been used with great success in the introductory physics labs. The second major goal of this project is to enable the physics department to enhance student learning in the calculus-based introductory physics course by using the "Workshop Physics" format--a technique that Priscilla Laws at Dickinson College has shown to be educationally effective. Ten audiovisual computers are provided through this project. Site licenses for software packages are also provided. Version 1.1 of the "Scientific Reasoning Series," along with SoftWindows, allow the department to upgrade and update this software, which has been used on a limited scale with the physical science labs. "Interactive Physics" (version 2.5) is being used in a pilot program for the physical science and integrated science classes to determine if this program can be used effectively with these students.
